ATLANTA - A surge of strong holiday shipping helped United Parcel Service Inc. beat Wall Street forecasts, but net income still dropped 11 percent as the U.S. recession battered business, the company said Tuesday.
UPS said fourth-quarter net income was $645 million, or 57 cents a share -- 7 cents more than the consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call. The results included $37 million from taxpayers as part of the Sept. 11 bailout package from Congress to help the nation's airlines.
In the same period last year, UPS earned $724 million or 63 cents per share.
Atlanta-based UPS, the world's largest freight shipper, said its modest gain in overall fourth-quarter revenue was also helped by international growth, which came despite the U.S. recession and related global slowdown.
Quarterly revenue was up 2 percent to $8.1 billion from $7.9 billion for the same period a year earlier.
"Our cost controls remained highly effective and served to mitigate the effects of the U.S. slowdown, even as we continued to effectively position UPS for the coming economic rebound," UPS chief financial officer Scott Davis said.
The peak holiday season started slowly for shippers but accelerated as Christmas neared, boosted by gains in e-commerce shipping. UPS deliveries on the busiest day of the season topped 19 million, the company said.
UPS's international export volume grew 8 percent in the fourth quarter, led by a 15 percent gain in European exports.
However, the company's fourth-quarter results showed a moderate decline in total average package volume, which dropped 0.5 percent to 14.7 million packages per day.
U.S. package revenues were $6.2 billion during the fourth quarter, down 1.7 percent compared with the previous year. International revenues were $1.1 billion, up 3 percent, while non-package revenues totaled $746 million, up 54.8 percent, reflecting the contributions of several acquisitions.
For the year, UPS had net income of $2.4 billion, down 18 percent from $2.9 billion in 2000.
Revenue for the year showed a 3 percent gain, to $30.6 billion from $29.7 billion.
UPS shares fell $1.71 to $55.29 in midday trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
Wednesday
January 8th, 2025
3:24PM
